


Cooling Down

by Rosie_Rues



Series: The Rising Storm [14]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-07-24
Updated: 2006-07-24
Packaged: 2017-10-22 19:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/241738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosie_Rues/pseuds/Rosie_Rues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hogwarts Express, passing through County Durham, July, 1978.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cooling Down

Somewhere in the north of England the train slowed to a halt.

Lily started awake with a faint moan. “Oh. Where are we?”

Peter stuck his head out the window. “Durham viaduct, I think. There’s a Muggle express coming up behind us.”

“Make it go away,” Lily wailed, and pulled her robes back over her face.

Sirius sympathised. His head was pounding, his stomach was twisting, and the bloody sun was coming in from the east like it had ambitions to be a flaming sword.

The train juddered and began to move sideways.

“Cool,” said Peter, who never got hangovers. “The viaduct’s widening.”

Every sideways movement shook the train, sending dust to cascade in glittering streams. Remus, who was sitting up very straight in the corner, fell against the wall and winced. His nose was very pink.

Thinking about it, Sirius hadn’t been the only one without his shirt on yesterday afternoon. They’d been by the lake since lunchtime, the whole of the seventh year and the most alcohol the Marauders had ever managed to smuggle into school. Sirius had dim memories of James and Lily snogging in the lake, and Peter up a tree singing, and Lily and Snivellus had managed to break into the potions’ cupboard and they’d all been as high as kites, even Narcissa, who’d rashly invited every one of them to the wedding.

Sirius had discarded as many clothes as possible as early as he could, but he never burned. He was pretty sure he’d managed to get Remus’ shirt off just after noon as well, though he’d stayed sober enough to keep his hands off beyond that.

The train crunched to a halt, and Lily opened her eyes again. She’d caught the sun too, but what he could see of her face wasn’t anywhere near as pink as Remus’.

“Whose idea was this?” she demanded.

“Yours,” Peter told her, smirking. “You said that it was our last day so we should have a party. We just implemented it.”

The party hadn’t ended until well after dark, when a couple of naked Hufflepuffs had wandered back towards the castle, and been caught by Filch. How many hours had Remus been out in the sun?

The door to the compartment slammed open, and James strode in, juggling a armful of cold drinks and snacks. “Breakfast, anyone?”

“No, thank you,” Remus said, sounding miserable.

“Are you _all_ still hungover?” James demanded incredulously.

“I’m not,” Peter said promptly.

“Some of us don’t have as much fat to soak up the alcohol,” Sirius snapped, looking at Remus. He really didn’t look well.

“Some of us aren’t lightweights,” Peter said. “There goes the train.”

The express roared past, and the train began to shudder again, moving back onto the main track. James sat down in a hurry, dumping his hoard on Peter’s seat. Lily crawled up into his arms with a whimper.

“Looks like we should get moving again,” Peter said.

Sirius sighed. He wasn’t sure he wanted to get moving. He didn’t quite like the idea that he wouldn’t be going back in the autumn. The years stretched before him, and he rather wished Divination worked, and he could have some idea of what was coming.

“Good,” Remus said. “I want to get home.”

“Staying at mine!” Sirius said reproachfully. “You all are.”

“Yeah,” Peter said. “Er, are we drinking again tonight?”

“Oh, God,” Lily said, and even James paled a little.

Remus laughed and then winced. Right, that was it.

“Get your robes off,” Sirius snapped.

“What?” Remus said and the others all stared at him. Peter, thankfully, refrained from innuendo for once.

“Off,” Sirius said, gesturing. “How badly are you burnt?”

“I’m fine,” Remus said evasively. Sirius glanced at James, who nodded, and they both went for their wands.

Remus managed to stop Sirius’ spell, but James had his clothes whirling up around him. He snagged them out of the air and they all turned to look.

“Ow,” said Peter, sounding awed.

Remus sank down in the seat, no longer pretending not to be miserable. His entire torso was a glistening scarlet.

“Lotion,” Lily said. “Right pocket of my bag. I’ll be sick if I stand up.”

Sirius got it, as James said, “Didn’t you realise you were burning?”

“Lost track of time,” Remus muttered.

“Great Merlin,” Peter said. “Moony finally did something utterly stupid when he was drunk.”

“Fuck off,” Remus said miserably and held his hand out gingerly for the bottle Sirius had worked out of Lily’s bag.

Sirius shook his head. “Turn round. You can’t even move your arms, can you?”

“Not much,” Remus said. “I’ll manage, Padfoot.”

“Shut up,” Sirius said, and sat down behind him. “You couldn’t reach your own back anyway.”

Remus’ lips set, but he turned his back anyway. Sirius poured a healthy dollop of lotion into his palm. It was pale green, and his skin went a little numb as it touched.

“Make this yourself, Evans? Smells like salad.”

“Cucumber,” Lily said. “And, yes. My Mum’s kitchen’s an awful place to work so I stocked up while I could.”

Sirius reached out and then hesitated as realisation hit him. It had been one year, three months, and thirteen days since he last had his hands on Remus. Oh, fuck.

 _This is not sexual,_ he told himself. _You’re helping a mate. You’d do it for James._

James himself was raising an eyebrow at him, both question and offer. Sirius shook his head. No one else had the right to touch Moony.

He braced himself, and pressed his cool hands softly against Remus’ shoulders. Remus winced, and Sirius bit his tongue to stop himself from murmuring comfort. Remus’ skin was hot to the touch, and tight. Sirius spread the lotion gently, watching it fade into Remus’ skin. As it did the redness faded a little, though the lotion caught on the almost invisible ridges of scars, leaving thin green lines crossing Remus’ back.

Sirius longed to press a kiss to every scar. To distract himself, he said, “You are a daft bastard.”

It came out gentle, and Remus turned to glance at him, eyes wide.

“Sit still,” Sirius said, and worked down Remus’ knobbly spine.

Remus began to relax, and Sirius fixed his gaze over his shoulder, on the corridor outside and the countryside rushing past. It didn’t help much, not when the air around him smelt of cucumber and dust and Remus’ sweat.

That was the back done, and already it looked better. He poured more lotion out and started on Remus’ arms.

Remus sighed softly, and Sirius realised he had let his hands slow, lingering as if they still had a right to wander.

 _Healing his back’s pointless if you then ruin his life,_ he reminded himself sternly. _All your reasons still hold._

Oh, he really wanted that glimpse into the future. If he could be sure that had been the only betrayal, if he knew he would never do that to Remus again, he would have given in to Remus’ hints in a heartbeat.

As he lifted the curls off Remus’ neck to reach his nape, he knew that he couldn’t trust himself. His nature had been cruel before he had ever realised there was a war. Now it was drawing them all in, how could he hope to be any kinder?

“How are the arms?” he asked roughly.

“Better,” Remus said, voice soft and sleepy.

That was it. No more, or he couldn’t be responsible for his actions. He shoved the bottle into Remus’ hands and snapped, “Do the rest yourself then.”

He was aware of Remus saying something startled, but he was already leaning out of the window. He stared back at the city, hazy in the heat, and forced back his yearning, piece by piece.


End file.
